We stand in proud support of and solidarity with the Association of University Presses (AUP) in their condemnation of the Executive Order on Combatting Race and Sex Stereotyping. Core to our values, our mission, and our 鈥�resilience is a steadfast commitment to equity, inclusion, intellectual freedom, and continued growth. Efforts to curtail, at the highest level, difficult but necessary conversations and inquiries around race, privilege, and the history of both are antithetical to these tenets: 鈥�Forthright and thoroughgoing examinations of structural racism are only the first steps to meaningful change. To stymie these necessary actions in the manner prescribed by this executive order is to maintain a hostile status quo.鈥�
Read the full statement below.
As a global community of scholarly publishers dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) is appalled by the issued by the US President on September 22.
By labeling difficult conversations about race and privilege as 鈥渟tereotyping,鈥� accusing citizens of advancing 鈥減ernicious and false beliefs鈥� in areas of legitimate historical interpretation, and attempting to ban members of the federal workforce, uniformed services, and government contractors鈥攁s well as recipients of federal grants鈥攆rom conducting anti-racist training, this order has the potential to set chilling and frankly un-American precedents. If fully implemented, it not only could slow the arduous, but vital, progress towards equity, justice, and inclusion in this country鈥檚 workplaces and public spaces, but also could hamper the essential exercise of intellectual freedom, through which new fields of inquiry, such as critical race studies, are articulated and make valuable contributions to the breadth of human knowledge.
This executive order claims to support 鈥渆qual dignity鈥� for every person, but would present serious barriers to the achievement of this goal. The expresses our members鈥� intent to recognize, value, and encourage diversity in our community and, importantly, aims to guide our future actions in this area. In part, it asserts that upholding equity, justice, and inclusion requires introspection, honesty, and reform of current practices, the interests they serve, and the people and perspectives they exclude. Forthright and thoroughgoing examinations of structural racism are only the first steps to meaningful change. To stymie these necessary actions in the manner prescribed by this executive order is to maintain a hostile status quo.
Moreover, this executive order has the potential to chill intellectual freedom. Our community has long championed intellectual freedom and, in fact, is well-known and respected for its role in publishing and promoting myriad new fields, including African American, Native American, and LGBTQ studies. By penalizing scholars and publishers鈥攁nd possibly even their parent institutions鈥攚ho rely on federal funding to underwrite the exploration of new ideas, this order could curtail meaningful intellectual contributions by US citizens, colleges, and universities, and could impede the advancement of human knowledge in general.
For these reasons, this executive order deserves both our contemporaneous condemnation and continued evaluation and watchfulness, in keeping with our association鈥檚 core values of diversity and inclusion and intellectual freedom.